Introductory information

Author with John Betjeman on Greenaway in Cornwall.

‘Where on earth is heaven?’ was a question
the author’s young son asked him over twenty years
ago. This book is his response, for what lies behind that
question has motivated Jonathan Stedall’s long career
as a distinguished documentary film director working with
some of the most original and thoughtful minds of our
time. His films about Tolstoy, Gandhi and Jung, and about
the educational and curative work inspired by Rudolf Steiner
have been milestones on his journey of exploration; so too
the insights of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Ralph Waldo
Emerson.

Along the way he has pondered deeply on the meaning of
eternity as ‘the everlasting now’, the human
being as a microcosm of the macrocosm, the role of the holy
fool, and the redemptive power of love. Above all he has
been increasingly absorbed not only by what is
‘seen’, but also by what is
‘unseen’.

Author with Malcolm Muggeridge.

The author’s quest has taken him into the African
bush, by train to Arcadia, and into the lanes of
Cornwall. Whether in Romania for Easter, among the hill
temples of northern India or in the streets of San
Francisco, it has often been encounters with so-called
ordinary people that have enriched his search. Men and women
all over the world struggle not only to cope with the trials
of daily life, but also to find meaning in their lives. He
has seen how for many this meaning is undermining the
dualism inherent in phrases like ‘spirit and
matter’, ‘life and death’, and
‘heaven and earth’.

Why should I live, why wish for anything or do
anything? In short, has life any meaning that the
inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy? –
Leo Tolstoy.

Author with Cecil and Elisabeth Collins.

Jonathan Stedall explores challenging questions about
living and dying, looking and seeing, heaven and earth, and
our human potential. An acclaimed documentary film director,
he draws on forty years experience, largely at the
BBC. There he worked with inspired artists, scientists and
writers such as John Betjeman, Laurens van der Post,
E.F. Schumacher, Bernard Lovell, Malcolm Muggeridge, Alan
Bennett, Fritjof Capra, Cecil Collins, Ron Eyre, Ben Okri
and Mark Tully.

Where on Earth is Heaven? is a personal journey
that mirrors the remarkable upsurge of interest in
spirituality today. Themes addressed include life after
death and life before birth, the evolution of consciousness,
reincarnation and karma, eternity and infinity, the seven
phases of life, angels and demons, the inner desert, dying
and becoming, creation and creativity, and the age-old
saying: ‘As above, so below’.